Darren Jay

Born in 1964, Darren started playing in 1989 his first residency was Asylum in Woolwich Polytechnic. He then went on to play at various parties in London. In 1991 Darren went to live in Tenerife, where he worked with Mr C, C.J. Mackintosh, Matthew B, Ricardo Da Force (KLF) and Frankie Bones. On his return he began to get booked for “Rage” playing upstairs alongside Mickey Finn. He went on to become a resident at the infamous A.W.O.L. teaming up with Randall, Kenny Ken, Micky Finn, Dr. S Gachet and MC GQ. It was then that A.W.O.L. released live at the Ministry of Sound, which became part of the Jungle explosion that kicked off around this time. As a result Darren found himself a regular at such events as Desert Storm, Roast, VIP Bash, Dreamscape, World Dance, Jungle Fever, One Nation, Helter Skelter, United Dance, Thunder & Joy, and just about any Jungle party or club that was happening. Darren went on to become a frequent visitor to Toronto working for Syrous, Big Bud and Pleasure Force making some 35 appearances in Canada to date. Darren has also been regular in mainland Europe, USA, Asia and Australia as the Drum n Bass scene has grown world wide. Darren has vast experience of working in the music business. In the 90's he compiled the 140bpm compilations for Moonshine Music, and hand picked all the records that appeared on the MCA Total Science collection. Darren, and the founder of Blackmarket Records 'Rene', went on to start Mecca Recordings, having three top Twenty hits with Phoebe One and also winning a MOBO for best British Hip Hop. Darren has also since won the Diesel Nu Music Award for best Hip Hop album, Troublesome Waters, with MC Riddla and Bob Sonic. On the Jungle production side of things, Darren produced many records on Tone Def Records, owned the Prime Time Wax label and was involved in the Barry Boom remix with Micky Finn and Aphrodite. He also owns Wide Open Music Darren & Micky Finn acquired the rights to the A.W.O.L. name from Breakin’ Science, and have started to promote new parties under that name.